Aside from that last beer I had from Einstök, they have been pretty solid. They are by far my favorite Icelandic brewery. Admittedly, I don't know of any other Icelandic breweries, but I assume there are some. Will those other breweries put out a winter ale? Incidentally, this appears to be the first winter ale that I have actually tried. I'm not sure if they're going to classify this is a winter warmer, but obviously it's not going to be a winter lager. If there are spices in this, I'm going to go ahead and give it the winter warmer label, but I guess we'll see when we see.
This is a very dark ale. In fact, this could easily be confused with a wee heavy with the mahogany tones inside this beer. The off-white head comes out pretty resolutely, and it leaves a very large Australian-shaped island of bubbles in the center of the glass with a strong ring around the sides and no lacing. The aroma smells spicy. There's a smoked barley with some pine and possibly some cinnamon sprinkled on top with what I genuinely think might be ... plums? It's an interesting aroma, and I am anticipating an interesting beer.First sip is nice and complex. The smoked malt is also sweet, and the mixed in spices are giving the whole beer a delightful sit by the fire vibe. I already think I have to call this a winter warmer, as the 8% ABV is already starting to warm me up from the inside, and I've only had a sip. Really, I don't know what more to say about the sip other than that it seems to linger in the back of the throat long after the sip is gone. This is another hallmark of a beer with a heavy, smoky malt. I was afraid the pine would be too much, but it seems to mingle with spices very well.
Tip-in is light carbonation tingle with caramel and smoky malt carrying a burgeoning sweetness. The middle sends pine to the roof of the mouth with carbonation to create a somewhat unpleasant sting while the malt and spices flow underneath very well, but the pine and carbonation are too distracting to really enjoy. The finish is a slight bitterness downturn from the sweet highlights that we had at the beginning before burnt caramel malt since this into the trail off.
Bottom Line: It was better when I siped this.
1.75/5